A photo nanoimprint is available as a technique to process a resin material in a nanometer scale or to fabricate a resin film having a nano-scale pattern.
The photo nanoimprint technique uses a mold, on a surface of which a minute convexo-concave pattern is formed, to make a resin material/resin film having a patterned shape following this minute convexo-concave pattern. More specifically, the photo nanoimprint technique is to form/process a resin film where the mold is pressed against a substrate with resist (photo-curable composition) applied thereon and the resist is irradiated with light via the mold for curing, whereby the convexo-concave pattern of the mold is transferred to the resist film on the substrate.
One of the problems to be solved in the photo nanoimprint techniques is how to transfer the convexo-concave pattern of the mold to the resist film precisely. IF the mold is brought into contact with the resist in the atmosphere when transferring the pattern to the resist film, the air existing in a gap between a base member and the mold or concavities on the mold may be trapped by intrusion of the photo-curable composition to make up the resist film. Thus, air bubbles may remain between the resist film and the mold even after the mold and the resist film comes into contact with, which causes a failure to transfer the convexo-concave pattern of the mold to the resist film precisely.
To solve such a problem, Patent Literature 1 proposes a method of performing the step of bringing a mold into contact with a resist film in the atmosphere of condensable gas that condenses under the conditions of a pressure and a temperature where a photo-curable composition making up the resist film intrudes gaps between a base member and the mold or concavities on the mold.